Mam-ma's Southern Family

Mam-ma & Tom-Tom Christmas 1972 at the Hork house I wish my readers a Merry Christmas! May the joy and happiness fill your homes today. Lisa Copyright © 2011-2025 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

This post is to honor and remember two young daughters of Ebenezer Loveless and his wife, Eliza A. Rodgers. Emma Loveless appeared in the 1880 household of Ebenezer and his wife as a six-year-old born in Arkansas. She had two younger siblings, George A., aged 5, and Arthur, aged 1. [1] She does not appear in another census and died sometime after this census entry. A search at Find a Grave brought up a memorial for Emma with a photo of her gravestone, located in Springhill Cemetery in Faulker County. [2] It states: EMMA & MINNIE Daughters of Rev. & Mrs. Eb. LOVELESS Here is the photo of stone I took in 2015. There is no birth or death date for either girl. This introduced another daughter, Minnie, who was dead before 1880. There is no clue as to when this stone was created, though to my untrained eye, it appears more modern than the supposed death dates. Another clue to it being placed later in time is having no dates on the stone, so perhaps the family forgot the ac...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from  Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings : Join in, accept the mission, and execute it with precision. Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him about your Christmases past. Rev up the old thinking cap and cue up the Mission Impossible music - your mission, should you decide to accept it - keeping with the Christmas theme - is: 1)   Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a nibling, a cousin, an in-law)!   2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:    Ask AI Gemini:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?"     This is a new list of qu...

How many people with the same name do you have in your tree? I have seven women named Elizabeth Loveless. One is in my direct line, Elizabeth Nixon, who married Jesse Loveless, and the rest are collaterals. However, I need documentation to sort them out, and this post will help me find it. Elizabeth Nixon, who married Jesse Loveless She is my third-great-grandmother, born about 1810 in South Carolina, according to census records. She married Jesse Loveless about 1828 in South Carolina, but there is no marriage record. [1] Possible parents are Abner Nixon and Mary Parthenia Medlock. [2] The first record I have in which she is named is the 1850 Cass County, Georgia, census, with her husband, Jesse, and their children, Terry, James, Roxana, Sophrona, George, Mary, William, Elizabeth, and Jesse. All were born in South Carolina. Here, Elizabeth was 40 years old. The youngest, Jesse, was two [3] . So, the family moved from South Carolina to Georgia sometime between about 1847 and 1850. ...

My 4x-great-grandfather, John Coor (1785-1838), lived in Copiah County, Mississippi. A part of Copiah County is named after him: Coor Springs. According to  Wikipedia , it is now a ghost town, but at the county's formation in 1823, it was the county seat. When Simpson County split off from Copiah, the county seat was moved to Gallman and then later to Hazlehurst. Like many towns that faded, the railroad had bypassed the town and instead went through Hazlehurst and Gallman. [1] John purchased land from the federal government along the Copiah Creek in Sections 27 and 28. [2] In 1825, John was elected sheriff in Copiah County, Mississippi, and on 10 August 1825, he posted a $4000 bond with John Sandifer and John E. Watts as sureties, payable to Governor Walter Leake or his successor. [3] His term was not specified in length but was stated according to the Mississippi Constitution, which stipulated a two-year term. [4] In 1825, the population of Copiah County was 2,010 white males, 1,8...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again   Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, is to: 1)  Pick one of your ancestors that you want to know more about.  Based on your knowledge of their life, what story lines do you want to explore? Here’s mine: My maternal grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, died when I was 19 years old. He was born on 7 October 1912 in Comanche County, Texas. He died in his sleep on 11 July 1973 in Contra Costa County, California. We called him Tom-Tom when we were young, and later just Tom. What I know about him: he was the oldest son of Thomas N. Johnston and Nell L. Hutson, and the third child of five. He worked most of his life as a carpenter, though he was in business with his brother, Hal, in the pool hall and taxi service in Walnut Creek, California, in the late 1940s. He loved to fish and make furniture. I have a couple of pieces, as do my siblings. As kids, we thought him ver...

In the first installment , we learned that my 3x-great-grandfather, George W. Lancaster (1839-1919), received a land patent from the federal government for forty acres located in Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, on 15 July 1890. [1] He filed for the land on 8 June 1886, and made his final proof on 4 February 1887 before the clerk of the District Court in Phoenix. [2] He was to complete an affidavit describing the improvements made to the land and to bring two witnesses, who also gave affidavits. His witnesses were to be two of the following: George H. Trook, Isaac B. Hand, James P. Moffatt, and Legh R. Shaw. [3] George’s Testimony The affidavit is four pages long, and the questions were asked by J. E. Walker, clerk of the 2nd Judicial District of the U.S. District Court in Phoenix. George was first sworn in and gave testimony to numerous questions. [4] He stated his name was George W. Lancaster, that he was forty-seven years old, worked as a farmer, and was not employed by an...

The Texas State Genealogical Society has a series of Heritage Certificates honoring our ancestors who settled in Texas. The Texas First Families Certificate is awarded to individuals who have ancestors who settled in Texas before 19 February 1946, which is the date Texas “relinquished its sovereignty to the United States government.” So, I wondered if I had any ancestors who came to Texas before it was admitted to statehood. I have several who were listed on the 1850 census: Benjamin F. Selman (1795-1873), his wife, Sarah (1798-1868), and children Greenlee B (1820-1888) and Sarah (1818- ) were living in Cherokee County. [1] Their son, Willis F. Selman , married Margaret Rebecca Evans on 29 November 1849 in Cherokee County. [2] Their daughter, Mary Ann Selman , married Calvin C. Scott on 12 September 1848 in Cherokee County. [3] A biography about Benjamin stated he settled in Cherokee County circa 1845. [4] I learned that Cherokee County was formed in 1846 after statehood and ...

Why did a Texan move his family to the desert in the Arizona Territory? That’s a question we may never know the answer to unless we find a diary, journal, or letter that speaks to that. It was a surprise to discover he had moved his family to Arizona. For many years, I thought his wife, Martha, had died, and the children all scattered. The missing 1890 census helped with that hypothesis. George Wilson Lancaster was born on 3 April 1839 in Lewis County, Missouri. [1] He married Martha Jane Polly on 25 October 1871 in Kaufman County, Texas. [2] By the 1880 census, they had three children: Wm Carlton, age 7; Lonnie O, age 4; Maggie R, age one month. [3] There is no 1890 census left, as it was damaged in a fire. In 1900, only George is found living with Sarge & Pearl Lancaster. [4] Ten years later, he was living with his son, William, and William’s six children and wife. George died on 14 January 1919. [5] Where did Martha and the children go? The oldest son, William Carlton La...